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Friday, March 22, 2013

Blizzard has just announced Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, a free-to-play collectible card game set in the universe of Warcraft.

You can play as one of nine World of Warcraft classes, collect cards, and battle people online. No release date yet, but the game will be out for PC and Mac, with an iPad version coming "shortly thereafter."

The game is coming out soon, Blizzard said—"Not Blizzard soon, but IRL soon." You can sign up for Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcrafton Blizzard's website right now, and the beta will launch this summer.

This game was developed by a small team of 15 people, Blizzard chief creative officer Rob Pardo said while announcing the game during a PAX East panel this morning. The goal: create a simple, competitive game with a more mobile team than they've used for bigger beasts like StarCraft II and Diablo III. They want it to be "small in scope, but epic in gameplay," Pardo said.

During the panel today, Blizzard brought out an announcer to describe a 1v1 game as it happened. It looks a lot like Magic: The Gathering with Warcraft characters and abilities: we saw Warlocks and Druids facing off, summoning monsters, and attacking one another in turn-based combat.

The characters and beasts chat and comment as they fight, sometimes saying hilarious things in traditional Blizzard style. There are a ton of Warcraft-themed cards, from ghouls and demons to Ragnaros, the fire god. This looks very cool.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

In the 1970s, the dictatorship controlling South Korea stipulated the length of women's skirts. Now, due to a new law, some in South Korea worry that those days are returning.

Last year, a law was passed in South Korea regarding, among other things, indecent exposure. Today, it goes into effect. According to website Korea Bang, the law states, "Those who show their bare skin excessively in a public place or expose parts of the body that should remain covered, thus making others feel embarrassment or discomfort, are guilty of indecent exposure."

The Korean newspaper Hankyoreh is arguing that this new law, passed under the previous president's administration, will enable authorities to go back to the strict social codes of the past. During the 1970s, for example, the length of men's hair was also regulated by the government. Those with long hair were sometimes given forced haircuts on the street!

This year, South Korea elected its first female president, Park Geun-hye. It was her father,Park Chung-hee, who seized power in a coup in 1963, declared martial law, and served as president for life until he was assassinated in 1979. This is perhaps why left-leaning publications like Hankyoreh are worried about how this new law will be interpreted.

Those deemed guilty of indecent exposure will be fined 50,000 won. Police say, however, that the goal is not to target mini-skirts. Critics worry that the law's ambiguous wording will lead to equally ambiguous complaints and fines.

One thing is certain: If this is enforced, South Korea's popstars (Girls' Generation, above), famous for their short skirts, are going to need new outfits!

There's more in the link below about how this legislation also makes things like begging a fine, along with declining to help a government employee during a disaster, crime, accident, or whatnot without enough reason for refusal.